The NUS MBA has empowered Kelly to transition from a traditional financial banking role, to a dynamic position in Shopee in their Anti-Fraud division.
She also managed to make a social impact during her MBA by raising awareness on Youth Mental Health through a Desert Race in Mongolia.

What was your key objective for doing an MBA?

I wanted to expand my horizons by exploring different industries, while remaining in my domain of expertise (Risk Management). I chose The NUS MBA to explore beyond China, to mix and interact with people from refreshing perspectives. I was also aiming for better career prospects.

What were some of the learning opportunities outside of the classroom that you took part in?

The NUS MBA offers tremendous opportunities. I learned a lot from electives – 30% of my electives were focused on Finance or Economics, 30% centred on Southeast Asian business environment and culture, and the remaining 40% was related to risk management. I took the opportunity to do a semester exchange in Hong Kong as I wanted to explore job opportunities there. Later on, I went to Germany for a short experiential exchange to understand the culture there. Beyond academics, I embarked on a desert challenge in Mongolia in a bid to raise awareness on youth mental health and received great support from The NUS MBA network is raising funds so I could make a meaningful social impact.

How useful were the experiential learning components?

The Launch Your Transformation bootcamp really enabled me to self-reflect on my personal and professional life. It crafted my communication skills for sure, and I started to become more aware of things "I didn't know that I don't know". The MBA Consulting Project was a very hands-on and interesting experience – in a team of four, we delivered a consulting project on compliance for Bank of China. Even though I was the domain expert in Compliance, I soon learnt that consulting was an entirely new area and it was challenging for me. What I picked up from this experience was mainly from observing my teammates – how to earn trust from clients, how to manage clients’ expectations and how to deliver solutions in a better way. These were practical skills that definitely groomed me to become a better professional.